Photo and caption by Claire Shirley

In an area of Kenya so stricken by disease and poverty, children at Langas Primary School express their genuine happiness despite their desperate circumstances. Often hit hardest by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, countless young children in Kenya care for their families yet still attend school in hopes of a better future outside of poverty. The arrival of an American journalism student reporting on HIV/AIDS proved to be just as big of a highlight to their day as it was to mine. These children represent the strength and perseverance so prevalent among youth in this slum near Eldoret.

Location: Langas slum near Eldoret, Kenya in Africa